Player: Jalen Pitre

School: Baylor

Height and Weight: 5’11”, 198

Combine Results:

• 40:  DNP
• Bench: 16
• Vertical Jump: 35”
• Broad Jump: DNP
• 3 Cone: 6.74
• 20 Yard Shuttle: 4.18
• Other Notes: I’m unsure as to why Pitre left out the 40 and the broad jump, but competed in everything else. His bench and vert numbers were okay; nothing special. His numbers in both the agility drills though were top of the class.

Strengths: Versatility, blitzing, physicality, off ball coverage

Weaknesses: Inconsistent tackling, inconsistent block shedding, impatient, alignment predictability, not full time starter

Projected Draft Day: Day 3

Player Comparison: Derwin James

Player Summary: Jalen Pitre played an interesting role in the Baylor defense to say the least. For a guy who is listed as a safety, he plays more of a slot/nickel back. In the few games that I watched I don’t know if I saw Pitre line up as a safety once. Right off the bat it reminded me of Derwin James’s style of play, which is where the comp comes from. This comparison has nothing to do with physical build or production/potential; this is strictly style of play. A safety who plays the box with very minimal usage as a safety. Although it is interesting to note that his style of play in coverage resembles that of a safety. His typical alignment is  somewhere between the linebackers and the safeties. Meaning if your backers play 5 yards off the line and your safeties play 12, he probably aligns himself somewhere between 7-10 yards off the line of scrimmage. It seems like he does this to keep everything in front of him, and so that he can keep his eyes on the QB and the backfield. When he aligns in off-ball in coverage he actually doesn’t look that bad. There isn’t much of him pressing, but in the few snaps I saw he actually doesn’t look that bad; it seems like Pitre is a physical player who likes to press at the line when he’s aligned there and make contact when he can. The big bright spot for me in his tape was his blitzing. Pitre is a really smart blitzer, he doesn’t just run himself in like a missile. Pitre breaks down if there is a QB/RB mesh for say a read option, but also starts slow so that he can find the hole in the line of scrimmage so he has a free rush. I was very impressed with that skill.

Pitre has a ton of issues though. The first is that because he was the Baylor slot he wasn’t a full time starter. In base packages and stuff he wasn’t shifted back to safety; it looked like he was taken off the field completely. Although Pitre could find himself in that type of role in the pros, so maybe it’s not as big a deal for some people. Pitre is not only inconsistent with his ability to shed blocks, he is a super inconsistent tackler. It seems like it’s a technique issue, which could be fixed, but time will tell. As I stated before, Pitre does not align in press much, he is typically off-ball, and when he does press it’s usually him blitzing. He can blitz from off-ball alignment, but when he wants to be closer he’ll show press and it can be a little predictable. My last note is that he’s a little impatient. Misdirection, pump-fakes, stuff like that can get Pitre out of position. In the Oklahoma State game you see a couple times where Pitre is in a position to  make a play  on a speed option, and Spencer Sanders will fake pitch it and Pitre bites and loses a chance to make a play.

Overall, Pitre is an intriguing prospect. Although it sounds like he may be considered a day 2 prospect, I personally believe he’s closer to a day 3 prospect. I think he has potential, but he is not ready to play day one and has a lot of developing to do. In my opinion he is also going to be very scheme dependent. Like the Chargers for example, a role similar to what Derwin does, except maybe in a more situational role. In the right system and under the right mentorship maybe he works himself into a role quicker than not, but we will see.